In the design of electric and acoustic guitars, there are several factors that dominate the design process. Principal among these are acoustical quality, aesthetics, and cost. The acoustical quality of the resulting instrument depends heavily on the construction of the guitar body. The design factors that affect the resulting guitar sound primarily include the body material (e.g., wood or plastic), as well as the existence and properties of hollow cavities within the guitar body. To minimize manufacturing costs, the guitar body is preferably made in a manner which utilizes inexpensive materials that can be easily formed into the desired configuration and then assembled easily. The aesthetic elements include design features such as the overall body shape, and also include other features that are applied as a post-assembly operation, such as painting and additional ornamentation that is added to the assembled body.
As is known, electronic guitar bodies are sometimes cut from solid wood, then formed into the desired overall shape, machined to produce space for the pickups, audio jack, and other electrical components, and then painted with one or more colors in varying detail to obtain the desired aesthetic finish. In these solid body constructions, a cavity may also be machined for insertion of a metal sustain bar that gives the finished guitar an improved sound. It is also known in the construction of solid guitar bodies to cover the body with a pre-finished phenolic laminate. For semi-hollow guitar bodies, the process is somewhat more complicated. Typically, a semi-hollow guitar body will include an outer rim made of plywood or cut from solid wood. A longitudinally oriented center block is then inserted within the rim, followed by top and bottom sheets of plywood or solid wood that are attached on either side of the rim and center block. This produces a guitar body with internal cavities, one of which is accessed by a cutout in the top wood sheet. The guitar pickups, audio jack, volume, and other controls are mounted on a pick guard, which is secured in place over the cutout in the top wooden sheet. Thereafter, the entire body is finished, typically by painting.
Often, there is a significant tradeoff between acoustic quality, cost, and to a lesser extent, aesthetics. That is, while a particular design may be aesthetically pleasing and inexpensive to manufacture, the resulting audio quality may be unacceptable to both professional and amateur musicians. For example, in the semi-hollow guitar bodies noted above, a significant amount of effort and, thus, cost is incurred in shaping the outer rim and finishing the assembled guitar body. Accordingly, there exists a need for a guitar body that produces good sound, yet can be manufactured in an inexpensive manner that allows significant flexibility in the aesthetic features of the resulting guitar body.